Tekashi69 Arrested on Racketeering, Firearms Charges

Further details of the case involving the rapper—whose real name is Daniel Hernandez—were to be announced at an afternoon arraignment in Manhattan federal court. At least two other associates were also arrested.

But a recent memo from state prosecutors in an unrelated sex-crimes case accused Tekashi of being part of a “criminal enterprise,” namely the gang 9 Trey Bloods.

The 22-year-old has numerous run-ins with the law since he was put on probation for use of a 13-year-old in a sexual performance in 2015, when he created three sexually explicit videos of a girl that involved fondling her breast, smacking her buttocks and watching two other men penetrate her orally and vaginally.

Hernandez admitted in detail to the sex crime but escaped jail time as a youthful offender—with the requirement that he stay out of trouble. But law enforcement has entered his orbit several times since then.

Police say he left his sentencing with a “carload of known gang members.” An on Nov. 8, gunfire interrupted the filming of a video in Beverly Hills, in which Kanye West and Nicki Minaj were set to take part.

Last week, he appeared in Brooklyn Criminal Court on a charge of disorderly conduct related to an incident in May, when an officer allegedly was injured after stopping Hernandez for driving with a suspended license. He was fined $120.

In his 2015 plea agreement, Hernandez was to demonstrate “that the crime he committed was the result of a serious mistake he made in his youth, one that was not indicative of the law abiding life he intended to lead as an adult,” according to a memorandum written last month by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office.

“Since defendant’s plea of guilty on October 20, 2015, he has not only become a successful recording artist, but is now a self-admitted member of a violent gang, the 9 Trey Bloods,” the memo states, noting that such affiliation is “patently inconsistent with his acceptance of responsibility and rehabilitation.”

“He has... been arrested multiple times for crimes he committed this year” and “exacerbated his own violent conduct by using his public platform and significant following to provoke and promote incidents of gun violence,” according to the memo.